Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay and candidate for governor, talks to people at the Meg 2010 booth before giving a keynote at the 20th Annual Conference of the Professional Business Women of California at Moscone Center on Wednesday May 6, 2009 in San Francisco, Calif.

The right places for solar

The Chronicle ("Green vs. pristine," Editorial, Jan. 25) is on target when it notes that Sen. Dianne Feinstein's legislation strikes an appropriate balance between protecting the California desert and promoting renewable energy.

California's renewable energy goals can readily be met without developing environmentally sensitive lands. The Bureau of Land Management has already identified over 350,000 acres of potential solar sites in the desert and is moving forward expeditiously with nine solar projects on approximately 50,000 acres of public lands. None would be affected by Feinstein's bill.

The Chronicle asserts that more should be done to direct developers to the right places. In fact, the federal process referenced above and the state's Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan are doing just that. These efforts will identify least-conflict areas for renewable energy development on public and private land.

By thoughtfully identifying and prioritizing appropriate development areas, private and public time and resources can be directed toward the projects most likely to move forward quickly and successfully. And if we focus on the right places, we can ensure that renewable energy is developed without compromising environmental values.

ALICE BOND Wilderness Society

San Francisco

End term limits

I could not agree more with former Assemblyman William F. Bagley's assessment of our state's problems ("Greatness to gridlock," Open Forum, Jan. 29).

In particular, "term limits." If you want to limit terms to six or 12 years, just have one election to the Legislature. I was taught that term limits was standing for re-election every two or four years.

If the print media wants to do a better service, it should lead the fight to repeal term limits and draw logical legislative district lines that protect the voters and not the politicians.

A fare system

To increase revenues, Muni might consider investing in fare boxes like the ones used by AC Transit and adopt the same policy regarding transfers: 25 cents, to be used once in 1 1/2 hours. Fare box does it all. Driver doesn't need to waste time looking (and many don't) unless the machine indicates the time has expired or is otherwise invalid.

Cell phones safe

The mayor should go back to his physics teacher at St. Ignatius and ask for a refresher on the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

The potential risk of cell phones, two-way radios, garage-door openers, Blue-Tooth, TV and radio stations and the myriad other devices that emit ordinary radio waves (non-ionizing radiation) has been studied ad nauseam for very many years throughout the world. No deleterious effect has ever been shown.

The city of San Francisco should not be embarrassed by yet another bit of silliness.

CHARLES OSTROFE Oakland

State needs someone to take care of business

A Jan. 27 letter to the editor ("It's not a business") questioned businesspeople's credentials, specifically Meg Whitman's, to hold office because government is different.

So let's look at the facts:

In Meg's high-tech world, if a company runs red ink for too long, the CEO gets fired; in politics, you get re-elected.

In business, if a product is unsuccessful, it gets either shut down or sold off so it doesn't bleed the company; in government, programs are not measured, run forever and always get more funding. In business, the CEO is under pressure to increase the value of a company for the shareholders' benefit; in government, we squeeze more out of the taxpayers while continually providing less service to them every year.

Different goals

I couldn't agree more with the letter stating the government is not a business, because the goals and motivations are quite different. If Meg Whitman said it was a nonprofit, I might listen to what else she has to say.

Whitman's recent realization that government is important, hence her desire to be governor, defies her long track record of being too busy to vote, even by absentee ballot. Finally, spending $39 million of her own money for her campaign and then saying that she is "frugal" because she was raised in a family that reused tea bags and tinfoil and darned socks truly stretches the meaning of the word. I guess her "frugal" family forgot to teach the adage that actions speak louder than words.